Technology, Behavior, and Governance: Far Away, Yet So Close! A Comprehensive Review of the Sustainable Mobility and Transportation Literature

Ioannis Kanakis, Stathis Arapostathis and Stelios Rozakis ()
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Ioannis Kanakis: School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete, 73100 Chania, Greece
Stathis Arapostathis: School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete, 73100 Chania, Greece
Stelios Rozakis: School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete, 73100 Chania, Greece

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 9, 1-44

Abstract: Within the multidisciplinary field of Sustainable Mobility and Transport(ation) (SMT), there are few review studies that analyze the vast and complex literature in a comprehensive manner, often paying limited attention to the key structural and interpretive elements and their interrelationships. Aiming to fill this research gap, the present study offers a thorough review of the literature from the past thirty years (1992–2020), analyzing and organizing it to ultimately provide a unified synthesis. Bibliometric network visualization of the SMT literature (2084 peer-reviewed journal articles) and content analysis of its most influential subset (220 articles) are combined using a mixed-methods approach. Based on this synthesis, three main bibliographic clusters are identified: “technology”, “behavior change”, and “policy–governance”, each addressing twenty-one bibliographic themes. These structural elements (clusters and themes) are then interpreted through three main narratives and twelve sub-narratives, revealing their dynamic interactions. The entire set of clusters, themes, narratives, and sub-narratives, along with their interconnections, constitutes a conceptual framework of the SMT literature. This study highlights the importance of fostering interdisciplinarity through deeper collaboration between researchers from applied sciences, social sciences, and the humanities, and identifies key thematic research areas and topics for future exploration.

Keywords: sustainable mobility; sustainable transport; sustainable transportation; narrative review; literature review; bibliometric network visualization; sociotechnical approach (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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